Boomtown Fair 2017 announces The Specials

Boomtown Fair 2017 has set the tone for what’s in store at Chapter 9 of the immersive and theatrical festival with 2-tone ska legends The Specials revealed as the first act for this year.

Appearing for the first ever time at Boomtown, The Specials will be performing on the Lion’s Den, the UK’s biggest reggae and ska stage.

The will take the ska-loving audience through their many hits that have provided the soundtrack to over four decades of music history.

Expect Ghost Town, Message to you Rudy, Too Much Too Young and many more…

Chapter 9 has gotten off to a record-breaking start for Boomtown as a phenomenal 40% of tickets sold in the first week of release back in November. With the festival staying the same size, for the first year ever, potential attendees are urged to secure a ticket to the 60,000 festival sooner rather than later – for an experience like no other.

Starting from Wednesday 1 February, when the story overview is released, 2017 will see Chapter 9: ‘Behind the Mask’ unfold over the months leading up to the festival, where the entire ‘city’ will once again become a huge theatrical production, played out by hundreds of actors and any ‘citizens’ who want to get involved.

The immersive storyline, often reflecting the state of society and world events [Brexit and Trump anyone? Ed.], will pick up where Chapter 8 left off, in the aftermath of the revolution with many of the key buildings (stages) in ruins or reclaimed by the Revolutionaries…

But Boomtown isn’t just about the fun, flamboyance and good music, charity is very much at the heart of the operation. In addition to the £98,654 raised for various charities at the event last year, the annual Charity Christmas CD managed to raise another record breaking £1,628 for local charity, Winchester Youth Counselling.

The CDs were produced by Boomtown with generous track donations from Boomtown favourite artists such as Critical Records, Calyx & Teebee, Foreign Beggars, Prince Fatty, and The Allergies, with all the proceeds are going towards Winchester Youth Counselling Walk and Talk therapy programme, which pairs young people aged 11-25 with a trained counsellor for a walk and talk session each week.

“Thank you to Boomtown and all the people who have purchased the Christmas CD. The money raised will help us to provide young people aged 11-25 with free counselling in the district of Winchester. We are very proud that Boomtown have chosen to support our charity as the demand for our service is on the increase and young people’s mental health and well being is very important to us. The money provided will make a real difference to the lives of young people who are most in need of our support.”

Winchester Youth Counselling

“It’s great to be able to utilise the different networks we have, from the generosity of the contributing artists to those who bought the CD’s, to pull together and raise money for local charities. We feel very privileged to be able to give back to the local community and are totally blown away by the amount that was raised for them amazing services provided by Winchester Youth Counselling.”